UK judge rules Muslim can cover face during trial.

UK judge rules Muslim can cover face during trial.

Woman must remove veil when giving testimony, says court in controversial decision

A Muslim woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons
 arrives at a London court, where a judge has ruled that she
 will be allowed to stand trial while wearing a full-face veil
, but that she must remove it when giving evidence.
 (photo credit: AP/Stefan Rousseau)

LONDON | AP | 19 Sep 2013 ::  In Britain this week, a judge struck a blow for religious freedom. Or for secularism. It all depends on whom you ask.Judge Peter Murphy ruled that a female Muslim defendant may stand trial wearing a face-covering veil — but must remove it when giving evidence. The compromise ruling had some insisting it backs a woman’s religious right to wear the veil, and others saying it shows British justice remains independent and won’t bow to religious demands.

The case has reignited a debate about Muslim veils that has flared across Europe, sparking protests and exacerbating religious tensions in several countries. Those tensions exist in Britain, too, and attacks on Muslims and mosques rose after the May slaying of an off-duty British soldier by Islamist extremists.

But both the court ruling and the interpretations of it suggest that Britain is facing the issue with a streak of pragmatism, and there is little appetite from the center-right coalition government for a ban like that introduced in France.

This is a country where many politicians agree with the aide to former Prime Minister Tony Blair who famously said: “We don’t do religion.”

“I don’t think the government should tell women what they should be wearing,” Home Secretary Theresa May, the country’s interior minister, said Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg agreed: “We shouldn’t end up like other countries issuing edicts or laws from Parliament telling people what they should or should not wear.”

The veil has become an emotive issue in European countries that are home to visible and growing Muslim populations.

Two years ago France became the first country to ban face-covering veils such as the niqab or burqa anywhere in public. The officially secular nation had already banned Muslim headscarves and other “ostentatious” religious symbols from classrooms.(Courtesy:Dawn)

British police find evidence of explosion at mosque.

British police find evidence of explosion at mosque.

LONDON | AFP |19 Jul 2013 :: British counter-terrorism police said Friday they had found evidence of a three-week-old explosion outside a mosque in central England, one of a spate of similar attacks in recent months.

The Wolverhampton central mosque was evacuated on Thursday night following the arrest of two Ukrainian men suspected of involvement in explosions at two other mosques in the area.

Police said debris from an explosion was found on a roundabout, and early indications suggested it had blown up on June 28.

“The debris... has been declared safe and further detailed forensic enquiries will be conducted at the scene throughout the day,” the force said in a statement.

Friday prayers were expected to proceed at lunchtime as normal at the mosque. 

The find comes after two Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 were arrested on Thursday as part of an investigation into explosions near mosques in the nearby towns of Tipton and Walsall.

They were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

“We recognize the impact news of the latest find will have on the communities of Wolverhampton and further afield,” said police Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale.

“We’re working hard to complete our enquiries so that the area can be returned to normality.”

There has been a rise in anti-Muslim incidents in Britain since May, when a soldier was hacked to death on a London street in a suspected Islamist attack.

The explosion at the mosque in Tipton on July 12 coincided with the funeral of 25-year-old Lee Rigby, who was murdered in broad daylight near his barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

35 militant groups operating as Taliban: Imran.

35 militant groups operating as Taliban: Imran.

LONDON | 09 Jul 2013 :: Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has termed running the affairs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as difficult and the biggest challenge for him.

In an interview to a British newspaper, Khan said 35 militant groups were operating under the name of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

When asked about his injury, Khan replied that he would be contacting specialists to avoid complications in the future. “This is the injury where you can actually have pain throughout your life,” he added.

The PTI chairman whose party is governing Khyber Pakhtukhwa is in London to consult specialists about back injuries he sustained following a fall during an election rally.(Courtesy:Geo.Tv)

London soldier murder suspects in court.

London soldier murder suspects in court.  AFP

This file photo shows Michael 

Adebolajo, who will be appearing 

at Westminster Magistrate's court

 on Monday June 3, 2013, after

 being charged with the murder

 of Lee Rigby. He is also charged

 with the attempted murder of two

 police officers, and being in possession

 of a firearm.—Photo by AFP

LONDON|03|June|2013:: The two Muslim converts suspected of brutally hacking to death a soldier on a London street will appear at separate courts in the British capital on Monday.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court for his first court hearing after he was charged on Saturday with the murder of 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby.

He has also been charged with the attempted murder of two police officers and possession of a firearm.

The other suspect, 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, is due to appear at the Old Bailey in central London for a bail hearing ahead of a pre-trial hearing on June 28.

He faces charges of murder and possessing a firearm.

Adebowale appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday, speaking only to confirm his identity and current address, after he was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.

The two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent were shot by police at the scene of the killing near Rigby's barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, on May 22.

Counter-terrorism officers charged Adebolajo after a day of questioning following his release from hospital on Friday.

The pair were filmed and photographed at the murder scene by witnesses, but legal restrictions prohibit the reporting of further details of the attack.

An inquest into Rigby's death heard that he was run over by a car before being attacked by two men armed with a cleaver and a knife, on a quiet suburban street in the middle of the afternoon.

Ten other people have been arrested in connection with the case, including two women who have been released without charge.(Courtesy:Dawn)